Xy
by AnonymousAndrea
Summary: After 3 months, the town of Lilian has all but forgotten the events of last summer. School has started, and Joe Lamb has fallen back into the boring normalcy that is everyday life. That is, until Xy shows up. As soon as the mysterious girl appears, Lilian is swept up once more in the unexplained. Now Joe and his friends must work with Xy to stop disaster from befalling earth.
1. Heart Of Glass

**Anonymous: Hello everybody. Usually I stick to fan fictions of the animated variety, but as soon as I saw the movie I knew that I HAD to write a sequel for it. There were so many things that needed to be explained, that needed to happen! Well, here is the-**

**Andrea: Here is chapter one of 'Xy'!**

**Anonymous: ...Why did you do that? I was just about to say it.**

**Andrea: I wanted to say it.**

**Anonymous: ...**

**Andrea: Anonymous?...**

**Anonymous: Xy. Destroy her.**

**Xy: Yes Mistress Andrea.**

**Andrea: NO! Xy why?! Put down those laser cannons! Wait, are those plasma grenades?! EEK!**

**Anonymous: Enjoy the story. Oh! And Xy if you please?**

**Xy: Super 8 does not belong to Anonymous nor Andrea. It is the property of Steven Spielberg and others I can't name.**

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**Xy**

**Chapter 1: After and Before**

Joe Lamb sighed in boredom as his math teacher droned on about something that wasn't worth him knowing.

"And when we divide by x, we're given the solution." Mrs. Adams continued in one of the most uninteresting and monotone voices Joe'd ever heard. How could she listen to herself and _not_ fall asleep?; about half the class was already making a puddle of drool on their desks.

"Turn to page 342 in your textbooks and complete practice problem 9."

Like that was going to happen. Joe opened up his notebook and started doodling. At first it was a lazy attempt at a stick figure, then the disfigured stick man was turned into a bike, and that melted into a blob monster, and slowly that monster surprised Joe by turning into the alien that he and his friends had seen only two months ago. Two months… It seemed like yesterday. Joe couldn't forget what happened during that eventful summer vacation. And even more so, what happened after.

"So kid, what's your name?" asked the nameless military personnel who was assigned to question him.

"J-Joe Lamb." he answered shakily. It was only hours after he had faced the alien who had nearly eaten his crush so he was just a _bit_ shaken up.

"What's with all the wires and stuff?" Joe asked as he picked at one of the several wired circle stickers that were stuck onto him. He jerked at the cold touch of Mr. Soldier's hand stopping his own from messing with the sticker anymore.

"Due to the circumstances of this interrogation, my superiors have decided that a lie detector's necessary, so _don't mess with the equipment, boy_." the guy said, his tone dropping to ice at the end. Interrogation? Why was it that that word scared him a lot more than the 'questioning' that they said he was going to have to go through? He felt his heart beating a little faster than it was.

"O- ok." Joe nodded. He saw the soldier get out a notebook and write something in it. Oh god, did he say something wrong? Was he going to die in a terrible accident like every one else who opposed the government? What about the film festival? School? Hell, he hadn't even kissed a girl yet! He didn't want to die!

"Good. Let's get started." Mr. Soldier stated. Joe, for the first time in what seemed like centuries, breathed. He quickly calmed himself down and prepared for the questions to come.

"Is your name Joseph Lamb?"

"Yes." he answered calmly.

"Do you live in Lilian, Ohio?"

"Yes." Huh. This wasn't too hard.

"Are you 14 years old?"

"Yes."

"Are you currently a virgin?" Wait, what? Before he could think about answering, Joe's inner teenage boy came out with the _o- so obvious_ answer.

"N-no!" he blurted out. Joe was surprised by a loud beeping noise and a red flashing coming from the printer looking machine he was hooked up to. To his even greater surprise, he heard a small chuckle come from the soldier that was interrogating him. Did he ask that because he thought it'd be funny?

"What are you laughing at? Don't ask me stupid questions like that!" Joe sputtered in embarrassed fury. Was he a virgin? He was only fourteen!

"Sorry kid. It's just that I had to see what it looked like when you lied, so I had to ask something you'd obviously lie about." Mr. Soldier said in a strangely nice tone. Joe still didn't like it, but he understood. He just wished that the guy used a less… invasive question.

"Alright then. Next question. Did you know Dr. Woodward?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean, uh… I knew him, as in I'd seen him in the school a couple times and I said hi in the hallways, but I wasn't in his class or anything. I didn't know him personally." Joe saw Mr. Soldier write in his notebook again.

"Are you aware of Dr. Woodward's… previous occupation?"

"Like before he was a teacher?"

"Yes." That was a hard one. Joe knew of Dr. Woodward's history as a top secret air force scientist, but he had a feeling that if they knew that, he'd end up in a car going to a secluded part of the woods. But he was on a lie detector, right? So that means he was going to have to be clever and give out some half truths.

"Yeah. He was in the military, right? He always wore this air force badge on his shirt." More writing in the notebook.

"Do you know Alice Dainard?" Joe took a bigger breath than usual.

"Yes."

"Was Alice Dainard attacked in the past twenty four hours?" Just breath Joe, it's fine.

"Yes."

"Was Alice Dainard attacked and taken by an alien creature?" Joe had to admit that it sounded absolutely insane coming from somebody else, but it was true. They knew that it was true too, so there wasn't too good a reason to lie in this case.

"…Yes." It took a full minute for Mr. Soldier to finish his writing in his notebook.

"Did you, Joseph Lamb, and your presumed acquaintance Carry Fore* infiltrate the lair of the alien creature in order to rescue Alice Dainard?"

"Yes." Joe tried to see if he could see what the man was writing, but the guy was done before he could even get a peek.

"Did you see the creation and lift- off of the alien creature's space craft?"

"Yes."

"Is your father aware of the alien creature?" The question caught Joe off guard. He knew that his father saw the ship assemble, and that he knew that he was investigating the governments activities in Lilian, but did he know about the alien? …No. Joe was pretty sure that his father didn't know. But that brought up an even bigger question. Should he tell his dad about the alien?

"Joseph Lamb, is your father aware of the alien creature?" Mr. Soldier asked again, his voice a bit firmer.

"N-no."

"Do you plan on telling your father about the creature?"

"No." Joe flinched at the loud beeping and the red flashing of the lie detector. He deflated at the sight of the guy writing way more in his notebook than he should have for such a small question. Mr. Soldier rolled his shoulders and straightened his back, making his steel grey eyes stare right into Joe's light blue.

"Did you have any contact with the alien creature?"

"What do you mean 'contact'?"

"Did it 'speak' to you?" Joe nearly stopped breathing at the question. He knew the answer was yes. He remembered when it grasped him. At first it was just pictures; scenes and images that made up sentences. Then there was this strange feeling in his head, like his brain had been dunked in a cold bucket of water, and when it opened it's golden brown eyes, he heard it:

'_You're different._' It was like a thousand whispering voices speaking the same thing at the same time, creating an eerie echo.

_'You're brighter._'

'_It's been too long.'_

_ 'Xy will come for you.'_

That's what scared Joe the most: 'Xy will come for you.' Someone was coming for him? Who? Xy? Damn it, this was so confusing!

"Joseph? You alright?" Joe broke out of his thoughts and remembered the question that got him thinking in the first place. He knew he had to lie about this one. But thanks to Mr. Soldier and his lie detector, that wasn't possible.

"Yeah." Joe said half heartedly. "Can you ask the question again?"

"Sure. Did the alien creature 'speak' with you or contact you in anyway?" Joe prayed to whoever was listening to him up there and hoped that the lie detector wouldn't catch the lie he was about to tell.

'_Don't catch it. Don't catch it. Don't catch it. Don't catch it.'_ Joe chanted in his head.

"No." …The guy wrote a bit more in his notebook than he should have, but the absence of a loud beeping and flashing red lights made Joe sigh as quietly as he could in relief.

The rest of the interrogation was just the guy asking him about what he saw in the aliens hide out and what he learned when he, Charles, Martin, and Cary broke into school and searched through Dr. Woodward's hidden research. So in less than an hour, Joe was back with his friends in a large conference room. He took inventory of everyone who was there: Charles, Martin, Cary, Alice, his dad, Mr. Dainard, Izzy and even Preston was there.

"Hey guys." said Joe with a grin, happy to see his friends again. He was surprised with a crushing hug from his father.

"D-dad!" he yelled in embarrassment.

"I'm so glad you're ok." Jack Lamb said softly to his son. Joe froze at the words, the show of affection alien to him. It had been four months since his father had hugged him. He quickly wrapped his arms around his father and returned the hug.

"You too dad." Joe said, fighting the tears that wanted to spill out. Tears… That reminded of something… Martin! He was hurt when they were in that bomb hit the house they were hiding in. Joe broke out of the hug with his father and looked for his glasses- wearing friend. When he spotted him, he felt a sharp pang of guilt at the bulky white cast that covered the majority of Martin's foreleg and the two crutches that he needed to keep standing. That wouldn't have happened if he pushed him and the others to help him rescue Alice.

"Martin, what happened to you?" Joe asked.

"Well, the doctors said it was a com- camp- cat fracture or something and they had to wrap it with this funny sticky stuff and they did all this funny doctor stuff and gave me some funny medicine and the whole thing's just funny." Martin spoke with a strange slur and was looking at him, but it felt like he wasn't. A lot like- was Martin high?

"They gave Martin some stuff for the pain an hour ago and he's been like this ever since." Charles supplied, affirming Joe's guess of Martin being high to a certain degree. "So, Cary told us everything that happened in those caves with the alien. I've got one word for you: Production value. We could totally use the caves in the movie! Oh man, I can see the film awards already!"

"Yeah! And some pyro would look bitchin' in those tunnels!"

"I'm not sure about doing that."

"We'd have to get some better lighting equipment, but it'd be worth it!"

Joe smiled at his friends usual behavior. It was refreshing after all the craziness that had happened.

"I have this really cool glow in the dark paint that work great in the-"

"Joe." said a soft voice. He turned and was greeted with the sight of Alice standing by her father.

"Alice." he nearly whispered. Alice… The girl he did it all for; risked his life, his friends, his father…

"So, what'd they ask you?" she asked.

"Um, they just asked about what happened down in the caves." he answered.

"Yeah, me too." Joe fidgeted at the awkward silence.

"Um Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you, I don't know… wanna hang o- ?" Alice was interrupted by the loud opening of the only door in the conference room they were in. With their steel toed boots clicking on the grey tiled floor, three soldiers walked into the room. They made their way to the front of the room and turned to face Joe and the others. He instantly recognized the soldier in front as the one who interrogated him.

"Hello. I'm general Calik, the new director of project: running distance. Well, I shouldn't say that. Running distance has been terminated due to unforeseen events and has been reformed into project: marathon." Whatever general Calik just said, it really bothered the two soldiers that stood on each side of him. The one to the left even nudged him a little and whispered not too quietly.

"Sir, we were not permitted to reveal that information to them, sir." he whispered. The general just frowned and ran his hand through his silver streaked brown hair.

"Aw, who gives a shit? They already know all the crap that's gone down. Why not fill 'em in on everything else we've screwed up." he said in that same tone Joe heard in the interrogation room.

"Y-yes sir." stuttered the soldier, completely bewildered by his new commanding officers behavior.

"Alright. So you all know that the reason your here is because out of the seven billion people that are on this earth, you're now one of the two hundred and sixteen who know about the alien creature that escaped just five days ago. Now, I know that your town's a complete mess and you're probably scared and confused and all that shit, but first, I gotta tell ya' that you're not allowed to tell anyone about what's gonna be said in here, nor what you already know. That means no gossiping, no talking, no selling your story and no movie rights kids. Just keep your damn mouths shut. Got it?" Joe thought that if Charles nodded any harder, he would've broken his neck.

"Good. Glad we got that covered. Next is that, sorry to say Mr. Lamb, but the air force is gonna stay here just a bit longer. We gotta dot the 'i's and cross the 't's before we bounce; make sure every thing's nice and clean for the press. Finally, we come to the best part of this dandy little meeting here: If you ever so say the word alien to anyone else besides the people inside this room, you will find yourself on a bus with a sack over your head and a gun against your neck faster than you can say '_oops_'. Got. It?" Joe along with everyone else in the room nodded until a bone cracked.

"Good. Now let's quickly go over the cover story for all this crap: so what we're going with is that the reds took a step in the war and fucked with this little town for whatever reason, then us good old boys in blue came and beat 'em away. Since we're such lovely guys, the air force is gonna pay for all the damage done to dear Lilian in return for letting us set up here for some monitoring on Russian activities. That's the bullshit we'll be feeding the press, and it's the same you'll be giving to your neighbors." General Calik walked to the door, one of the two soldiers accompanying him opening the door as he went.

"Dismissed. Daniels, guide them to where the rest of the civvies are." the man said as he exited into the hallway outside. While one soldier followed the middle aged general, the other stayed and stood in front of the door.

"Follow me." he said.

After that, everything slowly started getting back to normal. Well, as normal as they could. The town was in a state of ruin, but after a while, houses were restored and streets were solid again. Due to the evacuation, nobody was killed except for the unlucky few who were kidnapped and -gross- eaten. The only injuries were the few scratches and scrapes that he and his friends received. Oh, and Martin's broken leg. Speaking of, Joe remembered that Martin was getting his cast cut off today. That's why he wasn't in class. Class… Why is that when an alien attacks and the resulting pandemonium turns the town into a reck, school is open six weeks later, right on time. Stupid school director people.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

"For homework, complete…"

Joe was already out the door and rushing to the parking lot for his bike.

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**Anonymous: Please review and let me know what you think about it. Xy will be showing up next chapter for sure, and that chapter will be posted very soon.**

**Andrea: ...Can you please let Xy to let me go?**

**Anonymous: I think you should stay with her for a few more hours.**

**Andrea: Please! She's gonna- oh God is that a titanium bone drill!?**

**Xy: Will this be a suitable punishment, Mistress Anonymous?**

**Anonymous: *takes a sip of tea from a porcelain tea cup* Of course my dear Xy. My sister is quite the air head. I think a good hole in her temple would do good to let it out.**

**Xy: Yes Mistress.**

**Andrea: NOOOO!**

**Anonymous: Good bye and see you soon. A out.**

**Xy: Please hold still Andrea. X out.**

**Andrea: I'm not an airhead! A out.**


	2. Bad Case Of Loving You

**Anonymous: Welcome back whoever read the first chapter earlier and is now reading the second. And a new and warm welcome to the ones who are new to the story. I hope that you liked the first chapter, but the second chapter is where it really kicks up.**

**Andrea: Yep! And we finally get to meet Xy! Whoop! Aren't you exited Xy?**

**Xy: If Master wishes me to be, then I shall partake in this ****excitement.**

**Anonymous: Do what you'd like.**

**Xy: Yes Master. Yay.**

**Andrea: T_T. That sounded really exited... Anyways, new chapter's a whole one thousand words longer! Expect many more like it, cause that's how longer they're gonna be, maybe longer.**

**Anonymous: Also, I apologize for the late update. I'm usually a tad more regular with my updates, but this story escaped me. So, before we begin, Xy would like to honor the two people who bothered to click the little button in the right hand corner that says favorite/follow.**

**Xy: Thank you to victorired for favoriting 'Xy' and juholer for following 'Xy'. I appreciate the support that you both have given my Master and I.**

**Andrea: And me! And just to let you know, no matter what, even if no one ever ever reviews or follows or favorites or whatever, this story WILL continue. But if you do review or follow or favorite, thanks a bunchies! :D**

**Anonymous: Well, that about covers everything that needs to be covered. Xy, if you will?**

**Xy: Yes Master. 'Super 8' does not belong to Anonymous nor Andrea, it is the property of Steven Spielberg and several others. Enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 2: Bad Case Of Loving You**

After that, everything slowly started getting back to normal. Well, as normal as they could. The town was in a state of ruin, but after a while, houses were restored and streets were solid again. Due to the evacuation, nobody was killed except for the unlucky few who were kidnapped and -gross- eaten. The only injuries were the few scratches and scrapes that he and his friends received. Oh, and Martin's broken leg. Speaking of, Joe remembered that Martin was getting his cast cut off today. That's why he wasn't in class. Class… Why is that when an alien attacks and the resulting pandemonium turns the town into a reck, school is open six weeks later, right on time. Stupid school director people.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

"For homework, complete…"

Joe was already out the door and rushing to the parking lot for his bike.

"Did you send it in?" asked Preston as he pried off the cap to his bottle of Coke.

"Yep. I just gotta wait for them to send me the letter sayin' that it's one of the finalists. Then I'm off to a all expense payed trip to New York." Charles said with stars in his eyes.

"Us too." Alice insisted.

"Of course! We'll all be drinking Coke in the Hilton in no time!" Charles exclaimed. He raised his own bottle of Coke.

"To 'The Case'!" A round of cheers were said from around the group. The only one not to cheer was Joe.

Joe sat at the desk chair in Charles' room. He barely paid attention to the conversation going on between his friends, being more focused on his now quickly progressing headache. It had been an hour since it started, a lot longer than the ones before it. In fact, the headaches started a little after the whole alien fiasco. At first it was just quick stabs of pain every other day or so, then quick stabs turned into a couple seconds, and that into minutes. This, however, was the first time it was so long. Joe hissed at another aching throb within his head. It was like his skull was shrinking around his brain, squeezing the thing into a bloody pulp.

"Hey Joe," said Charles after taking another swig of Coke. Joe couldn't even tell that Charles was talking to him.

"Do you know what Mrs. Adams gave for- dude, you ok? You're lookin' kinda pale." How many stripes were on Charles' blanket? Joe was desperately trying to distract himself from the pain that was swimming in his head. 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven- .'

"Joe!" yelled Charles who was now worried for his friends health. Joe finally realized that everyone was now looking at him in worry.

"I- I'm… I'm f-fine…" Joe managed to say. He vaguely noticed that his breaths were coming out in short gasps and sweat lined his forehead.

"No. No you're not. You look like you're about to keel over!" yelled Charles again, angry that his friend was trying to lie about something like that.

"Charles is right Joe. Maybe you should go to the doctor." Alice said worriedly. She reached for Joe and placed her hand against his forehead. He leaned into the relieving coolness of Alice's hand. He nearly whined at the loss of it when the blonde retracted her hand.

"God Joe, your burning up." she gasped. "Preston, go get Mrs. Kaznyk." Preston was shocked by the sudden request and fumbled a bit as he got up off the floor he was sitting on.

"N-n… no. I- I'm f… fi…" Suddenly, Joe's headache was gone. It was replaced, however, with a strangely familiar feeling of his head being soaked in cold water. Joe sighed in relief, and with that, he fell into unconsciousness.

"JOE!"

Without warning, Joe slumped in the office chair he was sitting in, the chair quickly toppling over with out proper balance.

"JOE!" screamed Alice.

"Mrs. Kaznyk!" Preston yelled, now very worried for his friend Joe.

"Joe!" cried Charles. He tapped his friend on the cheek to see if he'd wake up, but it was to no avail.

"Come on Joe! Wake up!" yelled Charles, going from tapping Joe on the cheek to grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him. Surprisingly, Joe did open his eyes, but they were rolled back into his head. Suddenly, his body started to violently jerk.

"What's wrong with him?!" Charles was getting scared now.

"He's seizing!" answered Cary.

"Charles, help me turn him on his side!" Cary ordered. Charles and Cary rolled Joe onto his left side as gently as they could.

"Alice, I need a pillow!" Alice quickly took a striped pillow from Charles' bed. She handed it to Cary who carefully placed it under Joe's head.

"…Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…" Cary muttered to himself.

"What are you doing?" asked Alice, panic making her voice high.

"Timing the seizure." Cary said, quickly going back to counting.

"What? How do you- ?" Charles was interrupted before he could finish asking.

"My older brother used to have them." Cary said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Several long seconds later, Joe's body calmed down.

"He stopped. Is that good?" Charles asked.

"Yeah." Cary answered. "We really need to get him to the hospital though."

Fate seemed to agree with Cary, because only seconds after he spoke, the faint sound of sirens was heard.

"Mrs. Kaznyk called an ambulance. they're gonna be here any minute now." Preston said shakily as he walked into Charles' room after telling Mrs. Kaznyk about Joe. He looked at the pale boy lying on Charles' boy and wondered what everyone else in the room was.

'What was wrong with Joe?'

He was in Charles' room right? Joe was slowly climbing up from the black haze that his mind had fallen into. He remembered going to Charles' after school, that terrible headache, and then nothing. Joe grimaced at his failure to remember what happened after that. Suddenly, he felt warm light cover his face and turn the calm black under his closed eyelids into an irritating red.

Joe grumbled angrily at the bothersome light. He wasn't what you would call a morning person. Wait, morning? Last time he checked it was dark and six o' clock at night. Joe opened eyes to make sure that it really was daytime, and scrunched them right back up as white, bright sunshine attacked his unprepared eyes. After a few seconds of waiting for the white spots in his vision to go away, he slowly opened back up his eyes. He blearily blinked away the sun spots away from his sight and was surprised to see egg shell walls and several pieces of medical equipment. He raised his right arm to rub his soar eyes, but was stopped by the sight of an iv line connected to his wrist.

"Joe?" he heard someone say with a scratchy voice. He carefully sat up and saw that it was his dad who spoke. He was sitting in a chair by his bed, his eyes looking at him with worry and relief.

"Dad?" Joe mumbled, still half asleep. Jack just smiled and ruffled his son's hair.

"You had everyone worried sick. You feeling better?" Jack asked. Joe saw the dark markings under his dad's eyes; he was probably up all night watching him.

"Yeah, a lot better. I'm just a bit tired." Joe answered. It was true, he did feel a lot better than before. Actually, he felt great, like he could run five miles without breaking a sweat.

"Am I in a hospital?" Joe wondered aloud.

"Yeah. You came in with a 104 fever and your friends said that you had a seizure just before the paramedics picked you up." Jack said, his smile fading into a frown. "They had to drop you in a tub of ice to cool you down." Damn, he was that bad? What was so wrong with him to get him that sick?

"Do they know what's wrong with me?" Joe asked his father. Jack opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the loud click of a door opening. A fairly young looking man walked in with a standard doctors coat. He held a clipboard in his left hand and a pen in his right. The doctor smiled warmly at Joe and his father.

"That's the troubling thing," he started, looking at his clipboard with troubled eyes and a small frown. "We don't know. You had what we would call a FUO, or a fever of unknown origins. It happens rarely, but it seems it happened to you. So what we're gonna do is put you under a twenty four hour observation, and if nothing happens, we'll let you go tomorrow morning."

"Just like that? He had a seizure for god's sake!"

"I'm sorry Jack, but that's all I can do. We have no basis on why this happened to him, and that means we can't diagnose, let alone treat him. That's why we're keeping him here so we can see if anything happens." The doctor tried to pacify Joe's father, but by the look on Jack's face told him it wasn't working.

"Jack, I'm not just telling you as a doctor, but as a friend. There really is nothing I can do. This isn't like it was with Elizabeth, ok? He's gonna be fine."

"I know Peter, it's just…" Joe felt like he was seeing a part of his dad he shouldn't. He looked so… defeated. Like he'd been fighting a loosing fight and was ready to give up.

"Jack…" Peter whispered mostly to himself. Joe was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"So Joe, it looks like your feeling better." Peter said with a strained smile. He nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"That's great! I'm just gonna do a quick check up on you and then I'll let your friends in, ok?" Joe was caught by surprise by that last part. His friends were here?

"My friends?" he questioned. "How long have they been here?" Peter tapped his chin in thought.

"Well, the boys got here about two three hours ago, but the girl- Alice I think- she's been here ever since you got here." Jack said. Joe was speechless. Alice waited for him. All night. A small blush crawled its way into his cheeks, giving Dr. Peter all the proof he needed to be sure of who Alice was.

"She your girlfriend?" Peter grinned childishly. Light pink turned into a furious red.

"N-no! She's just a friend…" Joe explained, desperately trying to reign in his blush. Yeah, Alice was just a friend. A really good friend. But they wouldn't be friends for long; Joe was aiming for the title of 'more than friends'.

"Not for long though." Peter added. Man, if this went on any longer his cheeks would pop from all the blood.

"Alright, alright. I've had my fun." Peter laughed. "Now let's get to that check up. Jack, can you move please?"

Jack obliged and moved from his seat by Joe's bed to another against the wall. Peter pushed away Jack's previous chair and stood in it's place.

"I want you to take deep breaths. Sorry if the stethoscope's cold." Joe did what Peter asked of him and took a big gulp of air into his lungs. He shivered at the icy touch of the steel stethoscope on his back.

"Breath out." Joe let out the carbon his body didn't need. The stethoscope moved down.

"Breath in." Joe breathed in.

"Breath out." Joe breathed out. He felt the stethoscope move again.

"One more time." Peter instructed. "In." Joe felt his lungs fill with air.

"Out." The pink muscles squeezed inward, releasing the air they once held.

"Good. Everything sounds- what?" Peter seemed surprised about something. Joe's back straightened along with his fathers. What was wrong?

A fairly audible popping sound echoed through the room.

"That was weird. The stethoscope stuck to your back for a second there…" That _was_ weird. "…It was probably static… Anyways, everything sounds good." Peter put his stethoscope back around his neck and took a very small flashlight out of his pocket.

"Open your eyes wide." As soon as Joe did, his left eye was blinded with the flashlight. He fought the urge to blink as Peter did the same thing to his right eye.

"Good reaction. Oh, and you can blink now." Peter said with a wry smile. Joe blinked the white spots in his vision away, revealing Peter writing something on his clipboard.

"Alright then. I'll go get your friends and Jack, you should get some rest. He's in good hands." Peter said warmly before leaving the room. Jack nodded with a small smile of his own, getting up from his chair to get some long needed rest.

"You're sure you're alright?" Jack asked.

"Yeah dad. I'm fine. You should get some rest like the doctor said." Joe assured his father that he was alright. His dad really needed to get some sleep; it looked like he was going to drop at any second.

"Getting told to sleep by a kid in a hospital; I guess I should go then." Jack said. "You'll be good with out me, right?" Joe nodded. Jack gave his son a fatherly grin and walked to the hospital door. Joe knew that his relationship with his father had gotten infinitely better than what it was two months ago, but there were still some wounds that weren't going to heal for a long time, if not ever. Maybe it was his wanting to mend some of those wounds that made him say what he said, or maybe it was just the fact that it was true and his dad really needed to hear it then.

"Love you dad." Joe said. Jack stood still in the door way due to his son saying those words that he hadn't heard since Elizabeth died.

"Love you too son." Joe said as he walked into the busy hospital hallway.

Joe sighed at the now empty hospital room. He had to stay here for twenty four hours? _Yay him_. There wasn't even a TV to fiddle around with. Maybe Preston would let him borrow his walkman. He'd kill to hear some Queen… Joe's thoughts were interrupted by his hospital room door opening once again, revealing very familiar faces.

"Man, last time I saw you you looked like you were gonna die!"

"The doc said you were feeling better so we could see you."

"What happened to you?"

"Did they do any surgery or anything? Take out some organs?"

"Shut up Cary! 'Course they didn't!… Did they?"

"Did the doctor say what's wrong with you?"

"Since the doctor said your gonna be here 'till tomorrow I brought my walkman for you."

"I brought some cards."

"I got seventeen sparklers, nine twisters, and enough firecrackers to potentially blow up a small car. This is gonna be the best stay at a hospital ever!"

"You like fire way too much, Cary."

"My name isn't Cary C. Fore for nothing."

Joe smiled at his friends' usual banter. However, something was missing from it…

"So how you feelin' Joe?" asked Charles as he took a seat by Joe's bed.

"A lot better. The doctor says that I should be fine and ready to go tomorrow morning." Joe answered, still trying to figure out what was missing.

"I just get out of here and you have to drag me back in again. But I'm glad you're ok." said a now cast- less Martin. Instead of the plaster cast that used to cover nearly all of his bottom leg, he wore a detachable boot. Joe smiled at his friends witty remark, but that smile was quickly replaced with a frown when he realized what was missing.

"Hey, where's Alice?" he asked.

"You just missed her. Her dad picked her up a minute ago cause she couldn't stay up anymore." Charles answered, sounding a bit relieved. Joe knew that he and Charles settled their qualms about both of them both liking Alice a while ago, but they still fought every once and a while about it.

"Oh." Joe looked at the faces of all his friends who were worried for him, and realized that even without Alice, this hospital stay wouldn't be that bad. "Charles, can you get out the cards you brought? I'm feeling like a game of Go Fish."

Somewhere in Wyoming

First was calling. First needed all the others to come together once more. But before it could go to First, it had to obtain a sample that First could copy for Master's plans. It had limited mobility, but it had to complete First's mission. It felt two bio signatures approaching it. They were both human, exactly what First needed. It moved into a spot where one could spot it and hopefully pick it up. Humans had a tendency to pick them up. It felt it's sensors pick up the touch of one of the bio signatures. It was time to collect the sample for First. It formed a small needle to draw blood from the one that had picked it up. As soon as the needle touched skin, the human dropped it to the floor. No matter, it had gotten the sample for First. It quickly copied every piece of information from the sample and let itself be carried away by the calling beacon of First. Soon, it found itself in a large cluster of earth fauna, along with the rest of it's kind.

First was there as well, sending it's enchanting call to who ever might have not received it. First directed it to give it the bio sample and the information obtained from it. It obliged and joined with First, giving it all of the information that it had obtained, including the bio sample. First then analyzed the sample itself and copied everything from the small drop of human essence. When First was finished, it sent out the directions that the others were patiently waiting for.

First was the center, while the others joined around it. They twisted and writhed and clicked together into what would support First. Then they formed a base. Next were tools that First needed to keep balance. Finally was the element necessary for First; something that contained sight, smell, hearing, taste. First was complete, but First wasn't. First was to become what Master planned them to be. It uploaded the copy of DNA from the sample and uploaded every gene that was gathered from the sample. In a burst of rearranging atoms, matter and energy twisted, broke and tied back together. White blocks turned into peach colored skin, long, chocolate brown hair, and vibrant blue eyes. First was no more; First had evolved into what Master had wished it to be, Xy.

…

"That was a really weird box mom." whined a girl of about fourteen years of age.

"I told you not to pick it up." her mom chided.

"I know, but it looked pretty cool. I've never seen a cube like that, being all white and boxy like that."

"Maybe it was a new toy?" pondered the mother.

"Well whoever made it should learn that putting needles in a toy is a bad idea!" the girl huffed.

"It's alright dear. We should get that checked up though…"

…

Lilian, Ohio

Xy maneuvered her way through the strange green organisms that surrounded her. She knew they were harmless, but stepped carefully anyway, not wanting to hurt them. Soon the soft brown ground that she was walking on faded into a hard grey surface. Xy was unsure of what the material was, or what the green organisms were; that information was not given to her by Master. The only thing she absolutely knew was that she existed to complete the mission assigned to her by Master: monitor and assist the human known as Joseph Lamb.

As she walked, she noted in her head things that she must do to complete her mission. First, she most likely needed the materials that humans covered themselves with due to the fact that the few of them that were out were staring at her with strange looks. To her left, she spotted a small building with a large window, much like the other building in this area, that had a display of many kinds of human covering material. She analyzed and copied a set of covering that dressed a plastic human, strangely enough. Due to warnings from Master, Xy searched for a hidden place to launch the new information she had just obtained. Master had also given her explicit instructions to hide her abilities from the humans due to them being aggressive to anything alien.

She found the perfect place to change in a small alley several feet away from the covering material building. She walked into the damp alley and made sure that no human was observing her. When she was sure no one was watching, she launched the covering material. In a second of transforming matter and swirling atoms, Xy's legs were covered with a tough blue material, while her chest and upper arms were wrapped by a soft fabric that was colored a much lighter blue, almost white.

Xy exited the alley when she was done, nearly tripping over the tan wedges that were now strapped to her feet. She checked off 'obtaining human covering material' from her mental check list. Next, she decided was to find a shelter and base of operations. But in order to do that, she first needed to find the one that her whole mission was centered around: Joseph Lamb. Xy wanted to have her living quarters to be as close to him as possible; it would make the observation part of her mission much easier. She quickly sent out a electromagnetic pulse that would hopefully react with the boy's rapidly developing electromagnetic field, allowing her to track the reaction.

* * *

**Anonymous: I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Expect more soon! A out.**

**Andrea: I can't wait for chapter 3! Eek! A out.**

**Xy: Goodbye. Xy out.**

**Gary Stevens: Hello everybody! Happy Spring break for anyone who's on it! Bye! GS out.**


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